Lauderhill League Helps Three Keep Nba Dream Alive

It`s moments into the second half this Thursday night in Lauderhill, and the Lauderhill Pawn Shop Bulls lead Transportation Safety by 10.

Safety cuts it to four a few minutes later, but Zachary Moton buries a three-pointer from the left side with 13:30 to go, and the Bulls seem to have control again.

But then it begins to slip again. Safety scores eight straight to take the lead, and after another Bulls three-pointer, scores nine straight and never trails.

A glimmer for the Bulls: down by seven, Jerome Smith steals the ball at midcourt, drives into the paint and shoots -- off the rim, but Moton rebounds and is fouled. But then he misses the front end.

Exit signs: Down by 10, Moton aims for a three-pointer from the same spot as before and ends up with an air ball with less than a minute left. Down by 12, seconds later, Smith dribbles the ball out of bounds.

Final play: ``Let him go!`` ``Let him go!`` Safety players shout as Moton is left to lope untouched for a buzzer-beating dunk.

Final score: 85-75.

``I can deal with losing -- you can`t be a winner unless you lose sometimes,`` Smith says. ``But I hate to lose when you can win.``

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Smith wears the white glove on his left hand when he plays.

It helps some in gripping and controlling the ball. But as much as physical, the help is mental.

``It`s a philosophy of my own about self-esteem on the court,`` says Smith, 25. ``I seem to have more self-control. I don`t know what everybody else has to to do to prepare mentally for a game, but it helps get me up for a game. It really helps me play better.``

It helps keep the ball from slipping. And maybe it helps keep the dream from slipping.

Smith is one of several Bulls looking for more than recreation out of the Lauderhill Men`s League.

``I know I have the ability to subdue and outplay some of these NBA players if I was ever to get the chance to play against them,`` says Smith, a cook at the Sea Shanty restaurant in Lauderhill. ``I see myself getting there. It`s just a matter of time.``

Time is something slipping for players like Smith, Moton and Andre Griffin -- all Bulls, all 1981 Boyd Anderson graduates, all with one thing on their mind. Getting a grip, grabbing hold of a dream.

Griffin, 26: ``A lot of people say being at this age I should concentrate on other things. Some other people say I should keep my dream alive -- and that`s what I`m going to do ... and one day be in the NBA.``

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The dream. So attractive, so easy to hang onto when you were at Boyd Anderson ahead of current Golden State Warriors rookie Mitch Richmond. When you were three years ahead of Richmond. When you played on a Broward court against him as recently as two years ago -- when you played with this year`s NBA Rookie of the Year favorite.

And he`s not the only one. There was Nate Johnson, Otis Thorpe ...

``I`m pro material right now because I`ve been there,`` says Smith, who lives in Davie. ``I`ve played street-oriented type of ball and the organized school ball, the ex-semi-pro level ... I`ve analyzed the Miami Heat ... I`ve played with pro players.``

Smith, Moton and Griffin have been there. But so far, for each it has always been the wrong place.

Smith left BA to play two seasons at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, where he helped the team to its first conference championship and first trip to the state title game, then was forced to drop school to work and support himself.

No offers from four-year schools. No money to enroll and try out on his own. But no way he`d quit.

``As long as I have the physical ability to play and can run up and down the court, that dream will probably never cease to be,`` he says.

Moton went from Boyd Anderson to Miami Dade-North, then left for the Army as a way to support a wife and newborn daughter.

``I had to take care of them first, so I had to quit school and get a job,`` says Moton, now a father of two, who lives in Fort Lauderdale. ``That delayed me until now.

``Right now what I`m thinking about is getting in physical shape, and it goes from there. All I can do is try my best.``

Griffin never played basketball in high school, working part-time to help with the family finances. Then when he finally got involved in the game, shortly after high school, he, too, was forced back into the real world to fend for a new family.

``Things happen, you know,`` Griffin says.

That`s the polite way of saying it.

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Where they`ve been has not detracted from where each of the three wants to go.

``I can almost see myself there right now, if given the opportunity to try out and get the equal amount of time to practice and develop into the system,`` Smith says.

``I know one thing: I`m headed toward making the NBA.``

Griffin sees his play against Richmond, as recently as two years ago when he and Richmond played in the same Lauderdale Lakes rec league -- sometimes matched man-to-man -- as evidence he can play NBA-caliber basketball.